A very long-winded post about love

I'm feeling loved. I've been thinking a lot lately about the love I have felt from people and how blessed I am for it.
Yesterday my kids were telling me how much they loved me. I was told that I was “The bestest mom ever!” and “If someone else said to me that they had the greatest mom I would have to disagree” says Eden. I heard I was “The greatest cooker ever!” and so on. My head/ego grew about 2.3cm in circumference - despite the fact I know I didn't deserve any of those compliments. Dinner was just my homemade chicken noodle soup and rolls but you would have thought it was Thanksgiving dinner considering the compliments my little family was showering me. I even got a request to cook it every single night! Thanks guys.

I started thinking about all the things various people have done, said, or not said that have made me feel loved and I was filled with gratitude.
I'm now going to recount some very personal but treasured memories I pulled out of storage yesterday.
And I'm not going to name any names for two reasons. Reason one: they may not necessarily be things that Steve did. Reason two: if Steve was the one that did it, he may be embarrassed for me writing about it and delete my post. Lets just hope he doesn't get embarrassed by my candidness.

Memories:
Once I found a note in my box at work while I was in college. It was all in code. At the bottom of the note, there was a key to decode the message. I slowly wrote in each letter to read “There's something in the way you move, and all I can do is think of you.” I melted! That's a line from a Beatles song I like if you didn't know. It was a childish thing to do, but the thought of a guy out there not being able to stop thinking of me was quite romantic in my mind. It just so happened to be a guy I was quite enamored of at the time.

Once a guy took me on a beautiful hike up in a canyon. When we got to a certain point he stopped and began to pull out all kinds of treasures in his back pack. Candles, drinking goblets, cider...and a diamond ring. In a really sweet way he expressed his love for me and asked me to marry him. I thought it was incredibly romantic! Just for that I wanted to say yes, but it just wasn't right. But to this day I still think about how sweet that was.

Once (or more times even,) I was on my way to my bedroom after a very long and exhausting day. I was ready to immediately crash into bed, but just before walking in I remembered the mountain of clean laundry I had piled on my bed earlier that day to fold “later”. I was totally bummed. Just as I walked in though, I found a “man” :) standing there finishing up folding probably the 5th load. Tell me ladies, is there anything sexier than a man folding the laundry??? I dare you to think of something hotter than that.

At times I have felt the tears of the man I love drip on my cheek as he kissed me. Tears of joy because he loved me and I was his.

I have witnessed someone I love step completely out of their comfort zone and do something they would never do just because they knew it would make me happy.

I have seen the man I love shake in racking sobs because he knew I was in pain and he couldn't fix it. That act alone gave me the knowledge that he would see to it that it would be fixed. And it was.

I have been so overcome with feelings of being loved at times by my soul mate that I have not been able to hold back the tears. Tears of joy.

I could think of so many other treasured moments.
Tell me could I be more blessed?
I can't!

I challenge all you out there to recount those memories of being loved. Because I know you all are!

What do I do to show my love back to him?

I thank my God daily for my love – received and given.

I try to keep my body in good shape. I wear makeup. And earings. And eyeshadow! (Yuck.)
I grow my hair out long because I know he likes it better that way.
I try to have the house clean and dinner sitting on the table each day when the man of my dreams walks in the door from work; trying to hide the fact that minutes before was a disaster and utter chaos.
I try to take time each day to show I would rather spend every waking moment with my love and shower him with all the affection he can handle.
I write him love letters that are profoundly beautiful. With pros such as: “You have complited a fantastic word.” (See Ambien post.)
I more than wear out the phrase “I love you” by repeating it countless times a day with 100% sincerity.
Now if you have read this entire dissertation, you deserve a prize!

Thanks for letting me get that out.